Urban Hippie by Jen Lahey is published every second Tuesday at OttawaMagazine.com. Follow Jen on Twitter ‏@Jen_Lahey.

In the wake of some recently released and sobering stats about the amount of food that is wasted each year in the US, The Urban Hippie got to thinking: how are we doing here in Canada?

According to 2007 Canadian government report, “[i]n 2007, an estimated 38% of solid food available for retail sale was wasted, the equivalent of 183 kilograms per person.”

That report also points out, not at all surprisingly, that “a decrease in food waste would reduce negative environmental impacts associated with food production, processing, distribution and services.” Reducing environmental impact through how we handle our food? Sounds like an Urban Hippie challenge.